Burn It Down
by MistedVines
Summary: Haruno Sakura’s always been overweight, but one summer she’s going to change all that and get her revenge. Revenge on Uchiha Sasuke and his cronies.


Burn It Down

Haruno Sakura's always been overweight, but one summer she's going to change all that and get her revenge. Revenge on Uchiha Sasuke and his cronies.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

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Sakura stared at her reflection as she gently tugged egg shells from her hair. Round cheeks, hanging double chin. Thick uneven brows shaded by large square glasses. Limp, dull pink hair flopped down over her brow, completing the hideous face that belonged to Haruno Sakura. The girl rubbed a pudgy hand against her eyes, biting her tongue as she tried to keep from crying.

"Sakura-chan? Are you in here?" Sakura tried to smile at Sasame - the only person she'd ever been able to call her friend. The girl rubbed her head through the beanie cap she wore, ruffling orange hair. "I told them you'd gone down the art hallway."

"Thank you, Sasame-san," Sakura was glad to see the girl didn't look annoyed at having to protect Sakura yet again.

"Something's got to change." Sasame said abruptly, staring seriously at Sakura. "This isn't right."

"It doesn't matter," Sakura replied instantly. "There's only two years left and then it won't matter if I stay at home forever."

"Sakura-chan..." Sasame fisted her hands on her hips and glared, Sakura stopped washing the yolk from her hair to study the smaller girl suspiciously. "I won't accept this! You're far too good a person; the world needs people like you. Naruto-chan agrees with me, you know!"

"You shouldn't call him that, you know he hates it."

Sasame snorted, "yeah and he's a certified idiot. Hear me out Sakura; I'm sure your mom would let you. Come with me the rest of this year and this summer. We'll make all those jerks pay for everything they've done to you."

"I don't know, Sasame-san."

"Think about it today." Sasame fisted her hands into her pockets, watching Sakura. There was something about this girl, Sasame mused. She was kind, and gentle, but had a temper only Naruto seemed to see. Sasame didn't know why Sakura wouldn't stand up for herself -- or couldn't look past her insecurities, to see that she had some of the most beautiful girls Sasame'd ever had the privilege to meet.

Sakura had large eyes, framed with thick long lashes. She'd never seen another pair like them. Or if she'd just take better care of her hair and skin... Her pink hair would shine in the sun and pale, creamy skin was to die for. Sakura-chan was beautiful, and her friends could see it. Maybe the superficial jerks that went to their hellacious high school couldn't. But they could.

Lee and Naruto especially. It was a wonder Sakura hadn't noticed how head-over-heels in love with her they were. Sure, Sakura needed to loose weight -- if not for looks, then for her health. Sakura's mother, Tsunade, was the head of Konoha's largest hospital and was constantly worrying over her daughter.

As a child Sakura's been as skinny as a twig, full of life and wildness. But middle school had changed the girl for the worse and she'd begun to exercise less -- go into the sunlight less. Sakura had always had asthma, but obesity had worsened it terribly. She'd already been hospitalized twice over extreme asthma-related problems. Sasame would never forget the terror she'd felt when Sakura had collapsed, clutching her throat as she turned a deathly shade of pale, gasping for breath that would not come.

Loosing Sakura was one thing she'd never even wanted to think about. Since her cousin, who'd been like a brother to her had died, Sakura had been there to fill the void in her life. To loose Sakura would mean loosing everything she held dear to her. But this was just as bad. The scars that lay hidden on Sakura's wrists, bared witness to the suffering caused by her fellow students. Eggs thrown at her during lunch, sometimes even food. Being shoved into lockers, and taking the brunt force of cruel jokes. Sasame was tired of seeing Sakura suffer.

The orange-haired girl wasn't one to agree with the "girl is ugly, makes herself beautiful, finds hot guy" routine. A girl was beautiful no matter how she looked on the outside. But...In Sakura's case, just this once, she would let her dislike slide.

"Alright, Sasame-san," Sakura relented, drying her hair with a paper towel, once she'd gotten most of the egg from her hair. "I'll think it over."

"Thank you," Sasame smiled, making a peace sign as Naruto often did. "Believe it!"

"Urg," Sakura groaned. "Don't even start." The two laughed as they exited, the laughter dying instantly as they saw the group of girls waiting for them.

"Ah, lump." Ino Yamanaka leaning off a locker, said loudly, her painted lips pulling apart to give way to a false smile. "We've been waiting. Figured your best buddy wouldn't tell us the truth to where you were. So we just followed her." 

Sasame ground her teeth and shifted in front of Sakura, crossing her arms over her small chest. "You need something, bimbo? If not, get out of our damn way."

"Ooh," Tenten wailed, pretending to shiver. "You totally intimidate me, Sasame-chan." The smile slid off the girl's face and her brown eyes were flat. "Get out of the way, loser. We're not interested in you."

"Oh? That's too bad, I find you especially interesting, Eight-eight-san."

"That jokes gotten old, carrot-head," Tenten shot back, though her cheeks had still filled angrily with color. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"Go ahead, does it look like I care if you have to suffer through saying your shitty lines again? Whatever you're planning, you're just going to have to go through with me here."

"Sasame-san..." Sakura clasped her hands tightly under her chin, a nervous habit she'd had since she was a child. "Please, no."

"It's fine Sakura-chan. These banshee's don't scare me a bit."

"Banshee, eh?" Karin spoke up for the first time, studying a long manicured nail. "Haven't heard that one in awhile, ne?"

"No we haven't, have we?" Ino agreed. "Well, Sasame-_chan­_ if you insist. You can come along too." She reached forward just as Sasame ducked, causing the girl to crash into the lockers. Sasame kept a firm hold on Sakura's hand as they began to run.

"Sasame-san," Sakura wheezed, "let go, I'll be fine."

"Nah!" Sasame continued to pull the girl to the one place they were safe - the nurse's office. Shizune was a personal friend of Tsunade and always made sure to keep an eye out on Sakura. This school was ridiculous, Sasame told herself bitterly as teachers closed their doors, ignoring two girls being chased and having eggs thrown after them.

Konoha was a town run by power. And while Sakura's mother held a strong position, Ino's father held a stronger one. And Temari's father was mayor of Suna--anything wrong she did was let to slide without mention. Recently Hyuuga Hinata had been added to their group -- something that had caused great heartache to Sakura and Sasame. Hinata had been one of their friends since elementary school.

But, in the end, her ties to her family caused the separation. Sakura was gasping for breath by the time they slid to a stop before the nurses office, opening the door on a surprised Shizune and slamming it closed.

Shizune's assistant, Kabuto instantly went to the cupboard for Sakura's inhaler. Kabuto helped Sakura to sit down as he handed her the inhaler and then turned around to get her a cup of water. Shizune saw red as she took in the yolk dripping form Sakura's hair and mingling with the tears on the girl's plump cheeks. "What happened?" She demanded of Sasame as she instructed Kabuto to call for someone to pick Sakura up.

Sasame blinked at the look on Kabuto's face and shrugged it off as she replied. "The usual, they surprised us under the bleachers at lunch. I thought I had distracted them, but apparently they saw through my feeble lie." Sasame blinked again at the pleased expression on Kabuto's face as he came back into the room. "What the hell did you do, freak?"

Kabuto sniffed, "nothing, why do you ask?"

"Then what's up with that face your pulling? Huh?"

The boy winked at her. "You'll see."

"Hmm," Sasame hummed, keeping an eye on him. Shizune wetted a paper towel to wipe at the mess covering Sakura. Sakura was flushed with humiliation, keeping her head down, unable to meet anyone's eyes.

She hated this. Having to be babied because she was so fat and ugly everyone hated her. This was all her fault. If she could just run faster -- or if she didn't need her stupid inhaler. Sakura was glad for her large glasses as they hid her quickly filling eyes. She hated crying, and that's all she ever seemed to do.

Cry, _cry_, **cry**.

Always in need of another's help. Always hiding in someone's shadow. If it wasn't Sasame, it was Naruto, or Lee, or Shizune, or Kabuto. Her mother. Her father. Anyone who would protect her. She was weak.

Sakura despised that she had to sit on the bed instead of a chair, knowing that sitting in one would render her unable to free herself from it moments later. Shizune rubbed comforting circles on her back, speaking softly about something she wasn't paying any attention to. It was around that time that a soft knocking at the door caused Kabuto to grin maliciously.

"See!" Sasame crowed as Shizune made to open the door. "I _knew_ you were up to something!"

"Orochimaru-sama," Shizune said loudly, hardly able to keep the surprise out of her voice. "I didn't know you were back!"

Sakura perked up at the mention of her godfather (her a little more than insane god father). Orochimaru, while being on the evil side, and kind of insane, was still a good person (in Sakura's eyes at least). The man studied Sakura, who was still dripping eggs and tears and breathing unsteadily.

"Who?" He asked calmly, though there was a terrible note hidden in his voice. Shizune shuddered and attempted to answer him, only to be cut off by Sasame.

"Ino Yamanaka, Temari Sabaku, Tenten and Karin. But it was Kiba Inuzuka who first began throwing eggs."

"Ah," the tall man purred, smiling icily. "Sasame-chan, you always were good on the uptake. And Kabuto, thank you for calling me. Sasame-chan, if you would gather Sakura-chan's things, I'm going to take a quick trip to the office."

"Will do," Sasame saluted.

Shizune rounded on Kabuto the moment the man had stepped from the office. "What the heck did you call him for!?"

Kabuto sighed, pushing his glasses up. "You nor I would be able to do much of anything in this situation, but Orochimaru-sama at least, will be able to get them to back off for awhile."

"Thank you, Kabuto-kun," Sakura said softly from the bed, smiling timidly at him.

The boy smiled back, wishing he could be there to witness Orochimaru's anger being unleashed upon the students. "Anything for you, Sakura-chan."

"Don't flirt with Sakura in front of me, Kabuto," Shizune snapped, poking him in the chest. "I still haven't forgiven you for that little shock! And don't even think about asking for the weekend off now. Go to the office and get me two day passes, go!"

Kabuto winked again, this time to a further embarrassed Sakura before leaving to do as he was bid. "He wasn't flirting, Shizune-san. No one would want to, not with me."

"Pshaw," Shizune took the inhaler and slipped the plastic cover back on, hiding how much it upset her to hear Sakura say something like that about herself.

"Sasame-san wants me to go with her to her family's training resort the rest of this year and for the summer."

Shizune blinked at the sudden change in conversation, taking it in stride none-the-less. "You already know my opinion on this, Sakura. I really want you to go." Shizune hopped back up on the bed beside her. "I'd even let Kabuto go with you as a medical representative; he's been asking for a vacation."

Sakura smiled mutely, pulling a piece of shell from her shirt. "Still...I'm not sure..."

"Sakura," Shizune placed a comforting hand on her knee. "Only you can decide your future. In the end, your choice is the only one that matters."

"Thank you Shizune." Sasame entered a moment later, carrying Sakura's bag and her own over one shoulder. The girl was grinning, and Kabuto, who had entered behind her was as well. Shizune took the slips from Kabuto and began filling them out.

"You should come and see, Sakura." Sasame said, barely able to contain her mirth. "Orochimaru-sama just insulted Ino's entire family and called her out as a disgrace and she couldn't do anything!"

Sakura, who unlike her friends, saw further into the future, winced. Ino's revenge was going to be highly unpleasant. Still, while her godfather was in town, she was definitely be safe from the girl's wrath. Orochimaru was the leader of an infamous underground yakuza group, and the member of another. Otogakure, the group he ran, was said to be the strongest off all yakuza groups ever created. For years the police had been trying to find a shred of evidence of his work, but always came up with nothing.

The other he was apart of was a group by the name of Akatsuki. Their members were all well known convicts, with bounties on their heads. While her uncle publicly pretended to have nothing to do with the group, he secretly had serious ties to them. One of their more famous members was Uchiha Itachi -- brother to one of the boys who hazed Sakura in school.

Uchiha Itachi was wanted for the murder of his best friend Shisui Uchiha and nearly thirty other Uchiha clan members. The entire clan would have been wiped out if not for Konoha police who caused him to have to make a quick retreat.

Sakura had met Itachi when she was twelve, just a few years after the incident. The man, while silent and coldly withdrawn, had struck something in the girl. She still considered him to be someone she liked. The other member she enjoyed talking to was Sasori, who's skills with puppets had always amused her greatly. Sasori had slaughtered his parents and other relatives during a party and had then turned them into puppets as a child.

Sakura knew--she'd heard it enough times from Sasame to know, that it was weird to enjoy the company of murders and psychos more than "normal" people. But so far in her life, Sakura had found the former to be better people than the latter. Everyone she'd met had a reason for their killings. Sakura could find fault in everyone, not just these men who'd been labeled by society as monsters. Sakura tried not to blush as she remember asking Itachi to marry her -- she'd been old enough then to know what it truly meant -- and now, fat and ugly, she couldn't bear to face him, even though Orochimaru had offered numerous times to take her to see her old friends.

Sakura sighed tiredly. Maybe it would be better to just leave for awhile. And maybe she'd come back as ugly as ever...but maybe... Sakura stopped the idea before her heart grasped onto it too tightly. Miracles didn't happen to ugly people. That wasn't the way life worked.

Shizune handed Sakura the pass, patting her hand. "Remember what we talked about, Sakura. The choice lies in you, and in no one else."

"Thank you, Shizune." Sasame took Sakura's hand, lacing their fingers together as they exited the nurse's office, coming to face with Orochimaru, who was leaning against the opposite wall lazily. "Orochimaru."

"Sakura-chan, I trust you feel better now?"

She smiled at the man, trying to ignore the fact that she probably looked even worse than usual. "Yes, thank you for everything you've done, Orochimaru."

The man waved off her thanks, smirking in a way that could only be called animalistic. "I enjoyed every moment of it, my dear. Shall we go? I called Jiraiya and he'll be 'cooking his baby up something special'." Orochimaru snorted; he'd always been amused by the fact that Jiraiya had become a "house wife" after his marriage to Tsunade.

Sasame rolled her eyes. "What does that mean, burnt toast again?"

"Hey," Sakura protested, "Dad is a great cook!"

"Says you." Sasame muttered, who tended to get burnt food from the man (mostly on purpose). Jiraiya and Sasame had never gotten along, to the amusement of most of the family. Orochimaru hustled the girls out to his car, waving animatedly with Sasame at Ino as they passed. Sakura tried not to look at the girl as she walked by -- which instead caused her eyes to fall on the person she had most in the world.

Uchiha Sasuke. The boy smirked, an open challenge to both Sakura and Orochimaru. "I really wish Itachi had killed him too," Sasame said loudly--loud enough that it carried to the boy. Sasuke growled, eyes narrowing in suppressed rage. He turned on heel, his band of merry brothers following like good little dogs.

Sakura looked back to the doors, as she did every day, feeling the same wave of relief wash over her. Freedom. She was safe here, outside the large, gray building. Sakura considered the feeling, letting the idea she had tried to repress come forth.

What if she could loose weight? What if she could become better?

Sakura turned back for a moment to study the building, one of two that had been her personal hell. She **didn't** deserve anything thrown at her, or the names she was called. She had _never_ deserved any of it. Sakura tightened her fingers around Sasame's.

"Sasame-san."

"Mm?" The girl asked as they got into the sleek black car waiting for them. Orochimaru said something to the driver and they were pulling away from the curb.

"I'll do it."

"Do what?" Sasame blinked.

"I'll go with you the training camp."

Orochimaru and Sasame stared at her in shock, and Sakura shifted uneasily. "Sakura...Do you really mean it?"

The pink-haired girl nodded, pushing her glasses up her nose and then staring at the pudgy hand that had caused the movement. "Yeah. I'm...I'm tired of living like this. I want to change."

"Interesting," Orochimaru said before Sasame had a chance to. "I've been waiting a long time for you to decide that, Sakura-chan."

Sakura flushed, smoothing her shirt down. "I'm sorry."

"No!" Sasame said loudly, startling her companions. "You are not allowed to say sorry for everything--save it for when you've done something worth apologizing for!"

"I agree." Orochimaru, who'd never apologized for anything in his life, told them. "When do you want to leave, Sakura?"

"Well, Sasame wasn't going to leave for two weeks...And I still haven't talked it over with mom and dad, and there is a lot of packing to do."

"I see, this is good." Orochimaru pulled a small day planner from the front seat, making small 'hmm' noises as he scratched some things down in it. "You'll need to see an eye doctor about contacts, a dermatologist, and the hair dresser."

Sakura's cheeks grew hotter and she pretended to be fascinated with the leather seat of the car. "One of those clothes people too," Sasame added. "And someone who can teach her how to be a lady."

"You need those too." Orochimaru told her bluntly. "I'll sign you both up."

Sasame snorted, not in the least offended, "Naruto and Lee have to come too."

"To lady classes?" Sakura asked, trying not to burst out laughing at the idea of Lee and Naruto learning how to curtsy.

"That's not what I had in mind," Sasame confessed. "But the idea is attractive."

Sakura could feel it as her godfather and best friend continued to plan. Something was coming, something great. She could change--she would change. And she'd make them pay for everything they'd done. She'd make them pay for every name they called her, for every egg they threw at her. For every scar they'd given her.

Sakura let go of the person she'd been. From this day on, she bowed down to no one. From this day on, she listened to no one but herself. From this day on she was Haruno Sakura -- and she was not weak.

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Wow. That was a lot longer than I thought it would be. This is for a friend of mine, who's amazing strength and perseverance have inspired me to write this. Please remember to review, I love getting feedback and they always help with writing more. :d

More soon (I hope),

MistedVines


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